


Emotionally Compromised

by BirdyMarie



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Extended Family, Gen, Kids growing up, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 11:18:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14424270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdyMarie/pseuds/BirdyMarie
Summary: The Threegulls' pre-teen daughter is growing up, surrounded by love and some really good snacks in an emotional emergency.





	Emotionally Compromised

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Fourth Gull](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5463671) by [Kedreeva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kedreeva/pseuds/Kedreeva). 



> I found this buried deep in google docs and got emotional. Just thought I'd share.

Grace threw the book across the couch with a noise of disgust, then roared at it when it bounced off the arm and clunked to the floor. Her three parents turned from their own leisure with various states of surprise written across their faces. The twelve-year-old flopped back into her corner and smashed a pillow over her face. 

"Grace," Duke said with a careful note of warning in his voice. "Books don't go on the floor." He set his pruning shears back on the bonsai display and spun on his bottom to fully face and acknowledge her. She slid backside first off the couch, landing with a thump and flippantly tossing the book back onto the cushions. It landed face down, bending several pages. Audrey whined in distress from her spot on the recliner and made to get up from her nest of case files. 

"Don't even waste your energy caring about them, I can't believe she's going to effing end it like that!" Grace shouted. 

"Watch your mouth," Audrey said, but it was absent, automatic, while she still stared at her daughter like she had grown a second head.

"Sorry," Grace mumbled, crossing her arms and turning to stare out the window past Nathan. All three of them moved towards her in alarm when her eyes brightened with tears, one bright ocean blue, one deep melted chocolate.

"Lovey-"  
"What happened?"  
"Do you need a cupcake?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she rasped, finding a way to flounce upwards from the floor and off down the hall to her room. 

The three of them exchanged bewildered looks. "Do either of -you- know what that was all about?" Duke asked. He used to understand almost everything their daughter did, but recently she had become a mystery to him.

"I knew she was almost done, but..." Audrey was the reader of the three of them, but even she had never had such a strong reaction to an ending.

The ringback of a cell phone cut through the confused tension in the room. They both turned to where Nathan had his phone out in front of him, looking smug and indulgent.

"Uncle Cheekbones!" chirped from the speaker.

"Hey Lizzie, doin' anything this weekend?"

"Uhhh..." A flutter of pages came through the speaker while Audrey and Duke rose to meet Nathan in the middle of the living room. "Yeah, sure, I can do a date night this weekend, should I pack an overnight bag?"

Nathan smiled at his spouses' stymied faces. "Actually, kitten, was gonna ask for more of a weekend thing. Your cousin is emotionally compromised."

"Ohhh, crap, did she finish that series with the idiots in space?"

"Yes, Liz, just now," Audrey said, tension melting away as she understood her husband's intent.

"Her exact responses were: 'aw-oogh,' and 'rawrgh,'" Duke supplied helpfully, not really reproducing the sounds but coming close enough to the pronunciations. He slung an arm around Audrey's shoulders, the other around Nathan's waist. He really was the best problem solver.

"Forget the weekend, I'll be there in like ten minutes, are you guys stocked?"

Nathan shifted nervously, looking over his shoulder at the school night sunset. "Well if you have homework-"

"DADS, I'M GOING OVER GRACE'S HOUSE," peaked out through the speaker. The three parents winced while Dwight's tinny, "Kay," floated out before McHugh's muffled suggestion of which truck to take. Lizzie's voice overrode him: "Seriously, do you guys have supplies?"

The three exchanged looks, non-plussed. "We have cupcakes?" Audrey offered. Then frowned at the scoff that came back to them. 

"No wonder she's compromised, make that ETA like a half-hour." The call cut off. 

A moment passed before Duke turned to Nathan. "Was the implied insult to our parenting part of your plan?"

"Why don't cupcakes count as supplies anymore?" Audrey asked neither of them in particular.

"Look, she's twelve," Nathan started, "Figure, she doesn't want to talk to us anymore. Rather vent to the cool college sophomore."

After their mumbled agreements Nathan waved them back to their afternoon activities and returned to his own decoupage. The squares of light across the floor turned orange and Grace did not resurface. Then, the front door opened and three adolescent bodies tumbled into the house amidst rustling plastic bags and the competing scents of hot pizza and sandalwood incense. 

"I'll run her the bath!" Eric crowed as he trotted into the kitchen with the pizza.

"You will not, you turd," Lizzie said, aiming a kick at his butt and missing, probably on purpose. She peeled off up the stairs with one of the bags, ignoring his guffaws while Jean walked into the living room with the three adults. 

"Hey, other padres! Where'd she hole up?" she asked Audrey, lifting her chin in her father's direction to say hello. Nathan came over to press a kiss to her crown and answer.

"Bedroom."

"Yeah, that's where I would go. What'd she take in with her?" She looked around at each of them as the sounds of the bathtub filling filtered down the stairs.

"Nothing!" Audrey answered, as confused as her spouses for once. "We have cupcakes and ice cream, but she left them alone."

Jean snorted. "You guys don't even know her at all, do you." The teen shook a bag of sourdough pretzels and a tub of buttercream cake icing out of her shopping bag. She held them up where they all could see, then turned with a wink and went down the hall to Grace's bedroom.

"Apparently not, anymore," Duke said, looking up at them from the floor. 

"Ah, don't worry about it, fam," Eric said, coming in and waving a hand. "We got this one covered."

Lizzie reappeared to crouch down at the top of the stairs, the scents of sandalwood and jasmine wafting down after her. "Did we excavate her yet?"

He jerked his head towards the back of the house. "Jeanie's gettin' her now."

Audrey put a quelling hand on the top of Duke's head, trying to hide her smile at the way his eyebrows disappeared into his fringe. Their girls were all growing up, it seemed. 

Duke levered himself up off the floor to stand between Audrey and Nathan again just as Grace appeared at the end of the hallway, making noises of protest and chagrin while Jean prodded her along to the staircase.

"C'mon, lovey," Lizzie called down from the upstairs. "You'll feel loads better after you wash all that negativity off."  
"And then you can tell us all about what happened," Jean added.  
"While we stress eat and cry," Eric finished.

The three parents slid arms around each others' shoulders and waists and listened to their baby girl be taken care of by her family.

"Takes a village," Nathan said. And if nothing else, their baby girl had that.


End file.
